Name: High Wind in Alaska, March 17, 2006
Start: 2006-03-17T04:56
End: 2006-03-17T13:36
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS AFG wrote it up.

Strong high pressure over interior Alaska with a large and deep low pressure center covering the Bering Sea created a local channel of high winds as reported by the AWOS at Golovin. Maximum gust was 56 knots (64 mph).

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 16, 2:31 PM AST, 14 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 16, 2:31 PM AST, 14 hours 25 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
231 PM AST THU MAR 16 2006

.DISCUSSION...
THE 960 MB LOW NORTHEAST OF SHEMYA IS EXPECTED TO DECELERATE...
TURN EAST...AND WEAKEN...TO BE ABOUT 984 MB BETWEEN SAINT MATTHEW
ISLAND AND SAINT PAUL ISLAND AT 3AM SAT. IT WILL CONTINUE EAST
THEREAFTER...FILLING OVER BRISTOL BAY SAT EVENING. THE WEATHER
FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LOW ALREADY LOOKS SHABBY ON THE SATELLITE
PICS. IT IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE LITTLE IF ANY PRECIPITATION EVEN
IN ZONES 213/14...AND NOTHING MEASURABLE FARTHER NORTH AND EAST.
THE PORTION OF THE FRONT THAT TRAILS SOUTHWEST OVER THE PACIFIC
REMAINS ACTIVE THOUGH...AND THE MODELS ARE IN REMARKABLY GOOD
AGREEMENT IN DEVELOPING A FRONTAL WAVE ON FRI AND MOVING IT
NORTHEAST OVER THE WESTERN GULF OF ALASKA TO BE ABOUT 990 MB JUST
EAST OF KODIAK AT 3PM SAT. FLOW ALOFT TURN SOUTH AHEAD OF IT...AND
STRONG ENOUGH TO LEAVE THE PRECIPITATION BEHIND ON THE ALASKA RANGE
IF NOT THE CHUGACH. THE MODELS AT THIS POINT DO NOT MANAGE TO MOVE
THE SURFACE CENTER INLAND...BUT MAYBE SOME SNOW SHOWERS (FLURRIES
ANYWAY) OVER THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN INTERIOR ON SUN AS THE
ASSOCIATED TROUGH ALOFT MOVES THROUGH.

DESPITE THE LACK OF PRECIPITATION...THE BERING SEA LOW WILL
INCREASE PRESSURE GRADIENTS OVER MOST OF NORTHERN ALASKA...WITH
WIND AND/OR WIND CHILL PROBLEMS IN USUAL AREAS.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR AKZ203-AKZ204-AKZ220-AKZ223-AKZ224-
AKZ226.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ213-AKZ214-AKZ221.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ200-PKZ210.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ240-PKZ245.
&&

DJH MAR 06

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Ern Norton Sound Nulato Hills

When: March 17, 4:56 AM AST to 1:36 PM AST
Where: Ern Norton Sound Nulato Hills forecast zone
Measured: 56 kt (64 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, March 2006

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5489698.